New England Archivists Quarterly Board Meeting 29 April 2005 Student Activities Center, Simmons College 12:30 PM 5:00 PM

Transcription

1 New England Archivists Quarterly Board Meeting 29 April 2005 Student Activities Center, Simmons College 12:30 PM 5:00 PM 12:35-12:55 Call to order and review agenda Approve Secretary s January meeting minutes Accept reports requiring no action: Newsletter Committee 12:55-1:15 Treasurer s Report 1:15-1:45 Spring 2005 Conference Program Committee Report Spring 2005 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Report Fall 2005 Conference Program Committee Report Fall 2005 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Report Development Coordinator Report 1:45-3:00 Membership Secretary Membership Committee Listserv Moderator Education Committee Print Coordinator Branding Committee Outreach Report Web Report Public Relations Report Haas and Hale Committee Reports Distinguished Service Award Archives Advocacy Award 3:00-3:15 Break 3:15-3:30 President Report Vice President Report 3:30-5:00 New Business: SAA/NEA August reception support May 26th future planning meeting Future Planning Initiative Next meeting date and adjournment

2 New England Archivists Quarterly Meeting 29 April 2005 Student Activities Center, Simmons College 12:30 PM 5:00 PM In attendance: Mary Ide (presiding), Karen Abramson, Liz Andrews, Chris Burns, Peter Carini, Paul Carnahan, Bridget Carr, Lois Hamill, Tom Hyry, Brenda Lawson, Jeff Marshall, Nora Murphy, Rodney Gorme Obien, Anne Ostendarp, Jonathan Penyack, Paige Roberts, Anne Sauer, Kelcy Shepherd, Karen Spicher, Sheila Spalding, Susan von Salis, Jane Ward, Jason Woods Call to order and review agenda, Approve minutes, Accept reports requiring no action Mary Ide called the meeting to order; attendees introduced themselves. Mary reviewed the agenda. She also encouraged attendees to sign one of the circulating petitions supporting funding for NHPRC. Elizabeth Slomba then presented the Secretary s Report (Appendix A) and proposed corrections to the October 15, 2004 minutes regarding the publication project of the NEA Newsletter Archival Insight column. It was suggested that Board be added to Quarterly Meeting in the January 19, 2005 minutes. It was moved that the October 15, 2004 board meeting minutes with the proposed emendation, the January 19, 2005 minutes with the proposed emendation and Secretary s report be accepted. The motion was seconded. All Elizabeth then mentioned that the minutes have been updated on the website. She asked that board members let her know if the Google search feature was useful for searching the minutes; if the search feature was acceptable for searching, then she may propose ending updating the paper index to the minutes. Mary then presented the reports needing no action: Membership Secretary (Appendix B); Newsletter Report (Appendix C); and Hale Award (Appendix D). It was moved that the Membership Secretary, Newsletter, and Hale Award reports be accepted. The motion was seconded. All Treasurer s Report Liz Andrews presented the Treasurer s Report (Appendix E) and then discussed her transfer of her files to the incoming treasurer, Lois Hamill. The IRS and Massachusetts tax forms have been completed and the signed books are in order. Liz has also completed a procedures manual and a government and state forms documents file with the assistance of Jean Berry. The current finances are in good shape. And Liz has just deposited checks from the Spring Conference in the amount of just under $8000. That amount combined with the vendor income of $3000 means that the income for the Spring 2005 meeting is about $11,000. There was a brief discussion about meeting profits. The Board commended Liz for her work as NEA Treasurer for two terms.

3 It was moved to accept the Treasurer s report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Spring 2005 Conference Program Committee Report The Program Committee presented their report (Appendix F). Peter Carini mentioned that the ongoing program was a smooth operation, despite one speaker being unable to present. The book discussion readings question was resolved by making the readings available through a password protected part of the NEA website. He then said that the Program Committee found the handbook woefully out of date and, in particular, that a policy regarding travel reimbursement for speakers was not in the handbook. The Board discussed the need to update the program and local arrangements handbooks and where copies of the handbooks went. Lois said that the Spring 2004 local arrangements and program committees had updated the committee's copy of the handbook; no one knows where that copy went. Peter mentioned some parts of the book definitely need updating. Mary said that the Spring 2005 program was a great one. There were 191 attendees noted as of the morning of April 29 th. Karen Abramson said that it was fun to have new people on the committee; ninety percent of the Spring 2005 program committee members had never served on a program committee before. There was a brief discussion on whether the PR for meeting was effective, that who, when and how to make contact with the PR coordinators should be in program and local arrangements handbooks, and general questions about PR. A question about where attendees heard about the Spring 2005 meeting appears on the meeting evaluations. It was suggested that one person from the program and local arrangements committees assist in updating the handbooks. Elizabeth talked briefly about the Secretary's duties. The Board agreed that it is the Secretary's responsibility to communicate to committees Board actions and motions that affect policies relevant to the committee duties. There was a discussion about considering a mechanism for updating the handbooks. It was moved to accept the Spring 2005 Program Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Karen then ended the discussion by strongly recommending that there be two co-chairs for future program committees since that structure worked very well and distributed the work for the Spring 2005 committee. Fall 2005 Conference Program Committee Report Jeff Marshall presented his report (Appendix G). The committee is hoping that Allen Weinstein, the new Archivist of the United States, will accept their invitation to be the keynote speaker at the fall meeting. If he is unable to come, then the committee is engaging Greg Sharrow of the Vermont Folklife center, recommended as an excellent speaker. They may have both; the schedule will be worked out later. The committee is also planning to schedule targeted discussion groups sessions, organized along functions or common interests, such as a College and University Archivists discussion group. Paul

4 asked if such groups would compete with the other sessions. Jeff said that the group sessions would be an option in the programming. Six speakers and the keynote speakers will receive honoraria. There was a discussion about the honoraria; one session has three full-time folklorists for presenters and they will receive honoraria. It was mentioned that the program does not need a keynote speaker if the invitations are not accepted. There is $1,500 budgeted for honoraria, same as the Spring 2005 meeting budget. Peter mentioned the effect of honoraria on getting speakers. Mary said that the Board needed to discuss honoraria and outside speakers at a later time. It was moved to accept the Fall 2005 Program Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Fall 2005 Conference Local Arrangement Committee Report Chris Burns discussed local arrangements plans for the Fall meeting (Appendix H). The meeting will take place over October 14 and 15. The contracts with the hotels have been signed. The rooms at the Sheraton will be $109 per night and the block of rooms reserved is larger than in the past. There may or may not be a parking to UVM. There will be parking costs on Friday and possibly Saturday; the hotel is close to walk to campus. There may be an Education workshop on October 13 th and this may effect the budget. Karen Spicher added that the slate of workshops has yet to be decided. The meeting sessions will take place in two buildings. Jane Ward asked where the vendors would be placed; they will be near the coffee and registration table. There was discussion of vendor costs in budget and other details regarding the vendor area. A $3,000 budget line for vendor income was deemed reasonable. There was a brief discussion of the Board voting on the meeting costs at the summer board meeting, budget details, food costs and current estimates not finalized, and possible conflicts with NEMA and NELA meeting dates. It was moved to accept the Fall 2005 Local Arrangements Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Development Coordinator Report Jane presented the Development Coordinator's report (Appendix I). It was asked if NEA would be interested in vendors other than archival product vendors. There was a brief discussion about previous vendors and sponsorships. It was suggested that the Fall 2005 Local Arrangements committee could make suggestions about local businesses that might be interested in a sponsorship or vendor table. Jane and Chris will discuss this idea further. It was moved to accept the Development Coordinator s report. It was seconded; no discussion. All

5 Membership Committee Report Kelcy Shepherd presented the committee report and discussed the Listserv Moderator job description (Appendix J). There was a discussion of whether or not the Listserv Moderator is a member of the Membership Committee. It was moved that the job description of the Listserv Moderator be accepted as proposed by the Membership Committee. It was seconded. There was discussion concerning Board status of the Moderator, Moderator as part of job title, and the length of term. The motion was then amended by friendly amendment. It was moved that the job description of the Listserv Moderator as proposed by the Membership Committee be accepted and amended to include a three year term and job title changed to Listserv Moderator. All members voted in favor. The Board discussed the Moderator job so far, the Moderator adding new members, and how the Moderator is taking a light touch to moderating the listservs, and the function of the listservs. Kelcy then mentioned the new members breakfast, which will be held in the Special Function Room at Simmons. The Membership Committee is hoping to get feedback on mentoring. There have 24 people who rsvp ed for the breakfast; invitations went to new members who joined during the year. Mary commended Kelcy and Rodney for their work on the membership brochure. There was a brief discussion of the brochure. Kelcy mentioned that the committee was starting work on the membership directory. Paul asked about membership trends. Rodney passed out copies of the report on membership numbers. The Board discussed the trends in membership, current totals, the decline in membership numbers over four years and the likely reasons for the decline. Kelcy and Rodney are writing a letter to the membership to encourage renewals. There was continued discussion of retention issues, how to get members to renew, that many members are renewing more at the meetings, anecdotes about non-renewals, and previous membership drives. There were suggestions about two-year membership terms and possibly requiring committee and board members to join NEA before being allowed to serve. Kelcy said she would try to find a way to follow-up on lapsed members. It was also mentioned that the membership numbers may have declined due to loss of archival jobs. And there was a brief discussion about where conference programs are mailed. It was moved to accept the Membership Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Listserv Moderator Report Paige Roberts briefly discussed her report (Appendix K). She asked how people used the listservs. Paul mentioned that he used the listserv as a way to recruit members for the Spring 2006 conference committees. There was a discussion about why the numbers of subscriptions to NEADiscuss and NEAAnnouce differ; one reason is that some people

6 opted out of one of the lists. It was suggested that people not be allowed to opt out but that restriction might conflict with Yahoo s terms of service. The listserv structure could be changed when moved over to Skybuilders. Mary said that when the listservs are moved to Skybuilders, then it would be time to reevaluate the listservs. Rodney mentioned that listserv maintenance may be easier as well after the move. In response to a question about when the move was scheduled, Rodney said that Paige and he would be working with Skybuilders after the conference. Mary suggested that it would be great if the move were completed by the October meeting. It was suggested that there should be a note at the end of s from the listserv about the usage of the listserv; that idea would be mentioned to Skybuilders. It was moved to accept the Listserv Moderator s report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Spring 2005 Conference Local Arrangements Committee Report Jason Wood presented his report (Appendix L). He reported that 146 registered two weeks ago and 191 registered through the morning of April 29 th. There was one education workshop which was oversubscribed and had a waiting list. The food had come in $500 below estimates for each food event due to the revised attendee counts. The new food costs will be reflected in the final budget numbers. There was a discussion about parking availability, the extra spaces at Simmons on Saturday, and Landmark Parking rates. It was moved to accept the Spring 2005 Local Arrangements Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Education Committee Report Karen discussed her report (Appendix M), the budget numbers for the conference workshop and the cancelled Reference workshop. Since Betsy Pittman is leaving the committee, Karen is looking for a new member. Karen also added that the SAA workshop went well, the arrangements worked well, and that there was no difficulty. It was moved to accept the Education Committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All There was a brief discussion about the upcoming Fall 2005 meeting education workshops. Karen said that Education was in the planning stages and would be developing a slate of workshops during their meeting at Simmons. It was suggested that the Digital Asset Management workshop be offered again since it was so popular. Then there was a discussion about people paying for workshops and not attending. Some registrants of the Digital Asset Management workshop did not attend and so those on the waiting list were not able attend. The Board discussed registration for education workshops. Print Coordinator Report Mary presented the Print Coordinator report (Appendix N). There was a brief discussion about reports that ballots were sent out after the first mailing of ballots and to people not

7 members of NEA, ballots, and voting procedures. The Board would like to have the Print Coordinator reconfirm the time-frame for mailing out the ballots. Paul reminded the Board that the next election will need to held early because of the early dates of the Spring 2006 conference. It was moved to accept the Print Coordinator report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Branding Committee Report Mary discussed the Branding Committee report (Appendix O) and the need to formally appoint a member. It was moved to appoint Phillis Steele to the Branding Committee retroactively to the start of the committee. It was seconded; no discussion. All The committee is looking at graphic identity and the elements of graphic identity: audience, mission and name. Tara Hurt and Tracy Messer are co-chairs of the committee. They plan to draft a series of recommendations regarding these issues. The committee wants to have the mission statement updated or be revised and to have the audience and the primary audience identified. There has been some discussion about hiring someone or finding someone within the organization to do the graphic design work for the identity. The WGBH designer has some ideas about possible designs and may be willing to do some work for NEA for free or little cost. The Branding committee also sited a need for a marketing/communication plan. Mary asked the Board if the Branding committee is doing what the Board wants it to do. There was a suggestion that Branding committee issue their report, then the committee be set aside until the questions they raised concerning audience, mission and name have been settled. But then it was suggested that the committee address branding first and then come back to settle the other questions. The Board discussed various aspects of audience and mission. It was mentioned that if the committee identified these larger issues, then the issues may be bigger than the branding committee. Some Board members mentioned their concerns over previous logos and inconsistent use of NEA logos and letterhead; it was noted that the graphic from the membership brochure was being used for the Spring 2005 conference registration materials. The Board was reminded that mission statement had been pulled from NEA s incorporation paperwork and has not been updated since. And it was suggested that information about the audience could be pulled from the information from the Fall 2004 planning initiative. There was a discussion about the relationship between branding and audience. It was suggested that the Branding committee be reformed as a marketing taskforce and that some of the issues brought up by the committee could be covered by long-range planning discussions. The Board discussed the logo some more, why it was not necessary to have a marketing plan in place before the logo redesign and which issues should be settled first. It was then suggested that the Branding committee come back to the Board with the request for more information. After further discussion about what was wanted from the Branding

8 committee, the Board asked that the Branding committee submit a report by May 25 with their recommendations and include their discussions about the elements of graphic identity (mission statement, name and audience) for consideration at the Special Board meeting on May 25. And in response, the Board can give more refined direction to the committee. Then there was a brief discussion about hiring a graphic designer and budgeting for graphic design work. It was moved to accept the Branding committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Outreach Committee Report Anne Ostendarp started her report by mentioning that there was a new Outreach committee chair (Appendix P). It was moved to name Mary Caldera chair of the Outreach Committee. It was seconded; no discussion. All The Outreach committee may be coming back to the Board for more appointees to the committee. There was a discussion about Archives week, now the second week in November. It was asked if Outreach needed more bookmarks and how their budget was. It was moved to accept the Outreach committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Web Committee Report Jonathan presented the report (Appendix Q). He discussed the new members of the committee and the good turn around on materials submitted to the website. The reading materials for the Spring 2005 conference book discussion group were posted to a password protected part of the website. Liz said that she not received any bills from Skybuilders. The membership directory is covered in the contract with Skybuilders; but if Skybuilders is needed for work on the directory, there will be a charge for their work. It was moved to accept the Web committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Public Relations Coordinators Report Mary presented the Public Relations Coordinators report (Appendix R). Tara and Tracy want to know about the follow-up publicity for the Spring conference. There was a discussion about PR activities. They are drafting a newsletter article requesting newspaper articles and other mentions of NEA activities and events in the media. The Board discussed having someone take photographs of NEA events and creating a database of usable photographs for publications. It was decided to leave it to the PR Coordinators to find someone to do this.

9 It was moved to accept the Public Relations Coordinators report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Haas Award Committee Report Lois discussed the state of the committee and a need for members in her report (Appendix S). She recommended appointing Judy Huenneke of the Mary Baker Eddy Library to the committee. ARMA will fill out their two positions on the committee by the end of May. There was a discussion of membership, of Board liaisons and that Brenda Lawson is the liaison, future ideas for the Haas Award, targeting audiences and more publicity for award, and that the committee chair should be the representative from NEA. Lois spoke about the difficulty trying to get members for the committee. She agreed to stay on the committee until she could fill her position and suggested that the committee have co-chairs. It was moved to appoint Judy Huenneke to the Haas Award committee. It was seconded; no discussion. All It was moved to accept the Haas Award committee report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Distinguished Service Award and Archives Advocacy Award The awards are to be given during the Saturday lunch; Paul arranged for the plaques. The Distinguished Service Award to be given to Joan Krizack of Northeastern and the Archives Advocacy Award to The History Project. President Report Mary presented her report (Appendix T). The Board commends Mary Ide for addressing future planning issues and for taking a lead in archival advocacy issues. The Board thanks Bridget Carr for her work as a Representative-at-large. It was moved to accept the President s report. It was seconded; no discussion. All Vice-President Report Paul presented his report (Appendix U). He discussed the upcoming Spring 2006 meeting at Boston College. It was moved to appoint Laura Smith, chair, Jill Thomas, Jonathan Ault, Maria Bernier, Judy Huenneke, Jennifer Pelose, Jennifer Gunter King, Jessica Steytler and Anne Ostendarp to the Spring 2006 Program Committee. It was seconded; no discussion. All Paul added that two sessions were already planned.

10 It was moved to appoint David Horn, chair, Beth Sweeney, and Ed Copenhagen to the Spring 2006 Local Arrangements Committee. It was seconded; no discussion. All It was moved to accept the Vice-President s report. It was seconded; no discussion. All New Business NEA-Simmons Reception Mary said that Jeanette Bastian was interested in holding a joint NEA-Simmons reception at the Society of American Archivists meeting in New Orleans on August 18 th. If NEA were interested, then we would need to contribute towards the reception. It was moved that NEA contribute $300 towards a joint NEA and Simmons reception at the Society of American Archivists meeting in New Orleans. It was seconded; no discussion. All Future Planning Mary then turned the discussion to the upcoming Special Board meeting on May 26 th. It will be NEDCC (After the Board meeting, the meeting was moved to May 25 th.) The issues to address come from the information from the Fall 2004 future initiatives discussions. The discussion is how to use this information and how to move forward and regarding the May 26 th meeting who takes part and how to structure the meeting in the most effective way. It was mentioned that the Board should decide the established issues now and then determine what questions should be addressed at the special meeting. The Board discussed at length ways to organize the meeting and what issues should be addressed. Mary proposed that the Board prioritize issues and then determine the reasons for the priorities, the timeline and the strategy. There was a discussion of audience and mission statement and programming and conferences and which of these issues was important to tackle first. The Board discussed picking a few issues to discuss at the May meeting and the importance of determining audience and the effect on other NEA planning issues. After discussing these issues, the Board set aside the question of audience and went through Mary s recommendations for action (Appendix V). The Board prioritized actions for discussion at the May meeting and what items could be sent to committees for further response. After further discussion on these items and noting the continual references to conference issues, Paul said that the May meeting will be focused on conferences and workshops. Mary suggested that Mary, Paul and Nora Murphy could go through the list of recommendations, delegate actionables, and then prioritize items for discussion. They will then put together a May meeting agenda. The mission and audience issues will be discussed as part of the other issues. There was a discussion of people to be invited to the meeting and what mixture of people. The Representatives-at-large will come up with a list of invitees and will discuss over the procedure; Brenda Lawson

11 offered to take the lead. The criteria would be people who know the organization; people who are fairly new but have some knowledge of the organization would acceptable. Then Mary asked if the meeting needed a facilitator. The Board agreed that all that was needed was a firm agenda and a time-keeper. Mary, Paul and Nora Murphy will discuss who will run the meeting. There was a brief discussion about handling issues and discussion. Next meeting date and adjournment There was a short discussion on where to hold the June 29 th meeting; NEDCC was offered as a possibility. It was moved that the Board meeting adjourn. It was seconded; no discussion. All The meeting adjourned at 5 pm. Respectfully submitted, Elizabeth Slomba, Secretary